- Traditional Seventies sitcom starring Wendy Craig comprises the controversial line
- Her character Ria, in episode Breaking The Silence, yearns for pleasure
- However Dame Joan Bakewell led the protests and requested ‘was it ever’ a joke?
The BBC has been urged to chop a line in basic ’70s sitcom Butterflies wherein star Wendy Craig says: ‘I wish to be raped.’
The episode known as Breaking the Silence, with Ms Craig’s character Ria craving to flee her humdrum life, was rerun on BBC 4 final week however continues to be on iPlayer.
Veteran BBC presenter Dame Joan Bakewell led the protests, saying: ‘Minimize the road! This is not a ‘joke’ phrase: Was it ever?’
Ms Craig is a bored housewife married to Geoffrey Palmer, with Nicholas Lyndhurst as one in all their sons, in Carla Lane’s comedy which ran from 1978 to 1983.
Within the second episode from the primary collection, in 1978, she muses on choices to boost her life, itemizing adultery, shoplifting and operating by Harrods bare.
The BBC has been urged to chop a line in basic ’70s sitcom Butterflies wherein star Wendy Craig says: ‘I wish to be raped’
Ms Craig is a bored housewife married to Geoffrey Palmer, with Nicholas Lyndhurst (proper) as one in all their sons, in Carla Lane’s comedy which ran from 1978 to 1983
She says: ‘I’m bored, frustratedly bored. I wish to pull life by the letterbox. I need somebody to fulfill me from a prepare.
‘I wish to go operating throughout a area barefooted, knickerless, treading on buttercups. I wish to be raped!’
She then places her palms over her mouth in shock at her feedback.
It’s seemingly the scene didn’t spark controversy when first screened.
However within the years since there was a shift in attitudes to say of sexual violence on TV.
Novelist Dame Margaret Drabble agreed the road ought to be lower, saying: ‘All of the rape reference does is give ammunition to those that nonetheless assume rape is a laughing matter.’
Actress Dame Maureen Lipman added: ‘Publish home abuse points and the vicious evil of rape as a weapon of struggle, I believe that line ought to be lower.
‘Wendy Craig is such a fantastic actress we will see in her face what she thinks she longs for. Many ladies will know precisely what the character implies.’
Butterflies is being rerun on BBC 4 and earlier than final week’s episode, an announcer mentioned the sitcom ‘contains language which a few of you might discover offensive’.
On iPlayer, a written warning earlier than the episode says it ‘comprises language which can offend’ – an alert which may usually consult with politically incorrect language.
On Saturday the BBC declined to touch upon the warnings not mentioning the rape line – and whether or not it ought to be lower.
Within the second episode from the primary collection, in 1978, Wendy Craig’s character muses on choices to boost her life, itemizing adultery, shoplifting and operating by Harrods bare – in addition to rape – prompting requires the road to be lower
Creator Kathy Lette mentioned she wasn’t usually a supporter of set off alerts, however ‘to my thoughts this isn’t a robust sufficient warning’.
‘What Ria is implying is that she needs to be desired and devoured.
‘The phrase ‘rape’ on the conclusion of Ria’s plea for enjoyable, for frivolity does not make sense,’ she mentioned.
Ms Craig, 90, was made a CBE in 2020. Ms Lane died at 87 in 2016.
